College bursaries, lectures and prizes

The RCPsych Awards is an annual award ceremony recognising talented individuals and teams across a spectrum of mental health services. Visit the RCPsych Awards pages for more information. 

What is the Morris Markowe Public Education Prize?

The Morris Markowe Public Education Prize is a yearly award for pieces of public information on the topic of psychiatry.

The prize was established in 1989 from funds donated in the memory of the late Dr Morris Markowe, Honorary Fellow, and Registrar of the Royal College of Psychiatrists from 1972-78.

The Morris Markowe Prize is closed for applications.

Previous Morris Markowe prize winners

Previous winners of the prize are listed below:

• 2022 – Dr Benjamin Cross: "APOE-Thor: Understanding Genetic Tests for Alzheimer’s Disease"
• 2021 – Dr Cara Bell: "Knowledge is power" (PDF)
• 2020 – Dr George Gillett: "What does it mean to reduce the stigma of mental health?"
• 2019 – Dr Joanne Younge: "The Last Taboo – Let's Talk about Sex and Dementia (PDF)"
• 2018 – Dr Lydia Jones: "Can yoghurt treat depression? Exploring the mysterious link between our bowels and our brains"
• 2017 – Dr Ahmed Hankir: "Fighting My Demons: Prince Harry and Mental Health Stigma (DOC)"
• 2016 – Dr Farhana Mann: "Listen to the Lonely" (DOC)
• 2015 – Dr Rebecca Lawrence: "What's in a name? (PDF)"
• 2014 – Dr Alex Langford: "Why mental health bed cuts make me ashamed of the NHS"
• 2013 – Dr Clementine Maddock: "Hogarth Revisited (DOC)"
• 2012 – Dr Claire Polkinghorn: "Doctors go mad too (PDF)"
• 2011 – Dr Val Yeung: "Dispelling Dyslexia with Omega-3: Fishy or For Real? (PDF)"
• 2010 – Dr Kamran Ahmed: "Beards and Bow Ties: The Recruitment Crisis in Psychiatry (PDF)"
• 2009 – Dr Ashley McKimm: "Making Crystal Clear: The Myth of Methamphetamine"
• 2008 – Dr Gillian Doody: "Dying for a fag: whose choice is it anyway?"
• 2007 – Dr Julius Bourke: "God opens the floodgates in our brains"
• 2006 – Dr Alex Shand: "Trust me I’m a junior doctor"
• 2005 – Dr Raj Persaud: “Who needs their head examined?”
• 2004 – Prize not awarded
• 2003 – Prize not awarded
• 2002 – Dr James MacCabe: "Psychiatric wards: breaking the cycle of decay"
• 2001 – Dr Bhargavi Chatterjea Bhattacharyya: "When your child asks for moon"
• 2000 – Prize not awarded
• 1999 – Dr Robert Clafferty: “Alzheimer’s Disease – should patients be told their diagnosis?"
• 1998 – Dr Jonathan D Chick: “Medical students and alcohol: many students drink, but what if there are problems?”
• 1997 – Dr Maureen Johnston: “What’s the point” (article on suicide in young people)
• 1996 – Prize not awarded
• 1995 – Prize not awarded
• 1994 – Dr Peter M Haddad: "Post natal depression: why getting help is important"
• 1993 – Prize not awarded
• 1992 – Dr Ros Ramsay: “The trauma of psychosis: a personal disaster”
• 1991 – Dr Clare Hilton: “Alcohol in the elderly – a neglected problem”
• 1990 – Dr Paul Harrison: “Searching for the cause of Alzheimer’s disease

This competition is now closed. Please do join us at the prize-winners' webinar on 11th March.

Thanks to a generous donation from one of our Honorary Fellows, we are excited to announce an essay competition to celebrate the unique contribution that UK psychiatrists have made to the pandemic.  

The competition is open to core and higher trainees in psychiatry, SAS psychiatrists within five years of training and newly appointed consultants within their first 12 months of being on the specialist register. 

Four prizes will be offered of £250 each to the best essay as well as the opportunity to present your essay and be part of a panel discussion at one of the highly regarded RCPsych webinars on the following topic: 

‘How the COVID Pandemic has taught me to be a better doctor/psychiatrist’

This competition is open to:

• core and higher trainees in psychiatry
• SAS psychiatrists within 5 years of training
• new consultants within their first 12 months of being on the specialist register at the closing date.

Rules

• Essays of up to 1,500 words (including references) to be submitted by midnight on 31 January 2021 to bella.lshields@rcpsych.ac.uk.
• Please include ‘Pandemic Essay Prize’ as the subject line of your email.
• You are required to include in your submission how you would spend the money to improve your practice or address the impact of the pandemic.
• Entries will be judged by a panel consisting of the Dean and some of our most esteemed Honorary Fellows.
  
• The winner will be notified by mid-February 2021.

The webinar will take place in March 2021 to coincide with the anniversary of the UK first going into national lockdown.

• Category A - where a Faculty, SiG or Division takes complete responsibility for a prize and the Department of Professional Standards is involved only in providing initial guidance on setting up a prize, no administrative charge need be included in the prize costings.
• Category B - where the Department of Professional Standards is involved in additional administrative work, including the invitation of prizewinners to the Annual Meeting presentation ceremony, a charge of £200 will be made.
• Category C - where the Department of Professional Standards provides ALL administrative services, including the above, in the administration of a College prize - this could include setting up examinations, finding examiners etc,the administrative charge will be £300.

If applicable, these costs should be included within the budget accompanying the prize proposal.